Hurricane Imelda (Skarmory's 2019)
Hurricane Imelda was a hurricane in the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season. The 11th depression, 9th named storm and 5th hurricane of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Imelda formed from a low pressure area around 500 miles north of Antigua & Barbuda on September 27. Moving north and slightly west, she strengthened gradually, becoming Hurricane Imelda on September 30. Moved west by a steering ridge, her outer bands affected Bermuda on October 1. Now she continued to strengthen and moved more west, becoming a category 2 while moving towards the US. Weakening slightly, she made landfall on Morehead City, North Carolina on October 4, with 90 mph winds. She would go extratropical later that day and move northwest before dissipating on October 6. Bermuda was not heavily affected, only 1 million USD in damage was reported and no deaths. However North Carolina got hit very hard, roughly 400 million USD in damage was caused there and 13 of the 16 deaths caused by Imelda were there too. The other 50 million USD/3 deaths happened in Virginia. Despite not moving slowly, Imelda dropped a lot of rain on North Carolina, causing flash floods in multiple places. Meteorological History A non-tropical low formed over the open Atlantic on September 23, 2019. It moved southwestwards, splitting of from its' front on September 26, being classified as Invest 90L that day. It turned north, and developed into a tropical storm on September 27. Being named Imelda, she moved northwards over marginally favorable waters, which let her strengthen gradually. Eventually, she became a hurricane on September 30. She made a fairly close approach to Bermuda on October 1, and strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane later that day. Weakening back to a Category 1 on October 3, she made landfall on the US as a Category 1 on October 4, weakening quickly to a strong TS and then going extratropical. Moving over the US, she dissipated on October 6, 2019. Impact Bermuda Flooding was reported in Bermuda after Imelda's passing. Overall, 1 million USD in damages were reported and nobody died. United States North Carolina Hurricane Imelda made landfall on October 4, 2019 on Morehead City, North Carolina with 90 MPH winds. Imelda was one of the wettest tropical cyclones recorded with insanely high rainfall totals by the hour, causing tons of flash floods. However due to the fast moving motion of the storm, it wasn't a ginormous flooding event. However, floods were bad, and 13 people died in North Carolina. 400 million USD in damage was sustained. Virginia While still tropical over NC, damages were caused in southern Virginia from Imelda. After going extratropical, western Virginia took a beating. Overall, 3 deaths from Imelda were reported in Virginia and 50 million USD in damage. Aftermath North Carolina declared a state of emergency. In places where recovery from Florence was still going on, the floods set back the recovery quite a bit. Imelda was compared to Florence in some cases with the flooding. Overall Imelda wasn't quite as bad as Florence and didn't do enough to get retired, but it was pretty bad. Category:Category 2 Atlantic hurricane Category:Future storms Category:Atlantic hurricanes Category:Storms that hit North Carolina Category:Category 2 Atlantic hurricanes